Memories in politics are often short, but rarely in the politics of Northern Ireland. So, while Peter Robinson's decision yesterday to step aside temporarily as first minister may have struck London politicos as a last-ditch attempt to delay his seemingly inevitable reignation, it looks a bit different from a Northern Ireland perspective. Back in 2001, after all, the then first minister David Trimble set a precedent by temporarily resigning in favour of his colleague Reg Empey. Once that immediate crisis had passed, Mr Trimble in due course resumed his role.

Mr Robinson was thus well aware that the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which has governed the province's devolved politics since the Belfast agreement, allows the first minister to designate a colleague to carry out his duties for up to six weeks. Just as significantly, his fellow assembly members were aware of it too. By handing the reins to the enterprise minister, Arlene Foster, who thus becomes the most powerful woman in UK devolved government history, Mr Robinson has therefore done four things in one. He has won himself time. He has done so without deepening the immediate crisis. He has safeguarded the Northern Ireland peace process. And he has reminded us all that modern politics does not invariably have to march to a media drum.

While Mrs Foster was competently answering questions about the move at Stormont (and, it seemed, easing herself smoothly into pole position as a future leader of the unionist DUP), Mr Robinson simultaneously gave a robust denial of the ethics charges against him and made clear that he fully intends to be back in office by March. He needed time to deal with family matters, he said, a statement with which no one could possibly disagree. This was also the year to deliver at Stormont, he added. These were not the words of a party leader whose mind is terminally distracted from ongoing politics.

Mr Robinson has handled the immediate crisis around his leadership with determination and deftness. But he is not out of the woods. His move is anything but a long-term solution. Nevertheless, it manifestly makes sense in personal terms and, if he wins early vindication on the ethics charges and if his party stands by him, Mr Robinson should be able to resume office. The DUP leader is not bigger than the whole peace process, but such an outcome would cause short-term relief in London and Dublin, and even in Sinn Féin, whose short-term interests converge surprisingly with those of their DUP rivals. The key calculation, however, will be within the DUP itself. Mr Trimble found it much harder to return to office when it suited him than he hoped. Mr Robinson could find himself in a similar predicament.